The Ultimate White Paper Guide for your Blockchain Project

As blockchain technology is becoming more popular, we are seeing a lot of projects positioning themselves for initial coin offerings (ICO). One of the core elements of an effective ICO launch strategy is having a white paper; every business looking to launch an ICO should have one if it wants to become successful.

A white paper is a document that provides information about a blockchain project, detailed description of the product or service, and the processes involved. A good white paper gives the reader a general overview of the idea and the solution at the earliest point possible.

The earliest known use of the term “White paper” was in 1922 with the British Government. Over the years it was adopted for business purposes.

In 2008, Satoshi Nakomoto published the Bitcoin white paper. It started a tradition within the blockchain space of using a white paper to announce new theories, concepts and applications. 

Writing a whitepaper

Make sure that you use formal academic style writing for your white paper. Your whitepaper needs to be very descriptive and professional in tone. Avoid using assumptions, guesses and unverified content. A white paper should always be factual.

Your white paper should take readers under the hood of your project and explain the value you are going to provide, how the concept works and the processes involved.

With your white paper you should look to answer these questions:

- What are the problems that you are looking to solve?

- How will your blockchain project solve those problems?

- How will your blockchain project evolve in the future?

General structure of a whitepaper

Write a compelling introduction

In the introduction, you should look to give a brief overview of your idea. Outline the problem that you intend to solve and what they can expect from it. Grab your reader’s attention by explaining to them the benefits of your idea.

A good example for an introduction can be a letter from the CEO addressing future token holders and explaining the project.

Give a disclaimer

This is a good section for placing a legal notice, which contains any restrictions or notifications. Take the help of a lawyer to draft this part, or at least get it proofread by one. 

The disclaimer is meant to protect you and your investors from breaking any laws or simply letting them know that the investment itself won’t guarantee profits. If certain countries exempt their residents from buying the token due to local laws, mention it clearly.  

Add table of contents

A white paper is a technical document having a lot of information so it can be long. Therefore, it is extremely important to make your white paper convenient for navigation. 

Maintain consistency in fonts and make it clickable. Also, don’t forget to add page numbers. These small details enhance the UX.

Explain your product, target market and how it is going to solve the problem

Describe your target market and give an analysis of the current market using graphs and charts. Provide an in-depth explanation to the potential investors exactly where you fit in the market. 

Give a detailed description of your product architecture, technical explanation of your product and how you are planning to achieve results. Use visuals to explain concepts to your readers. 

Explain your token economics

Describe the importance of the token in your business and how you plan to distribute it. The more utility your token has the more valuable it will become. Having a clearly defined token economics means your investors will be less speculative about your project.

Your token shouldn’t be a placeholder for Bitcoin or Ethereum that anyone will swap for when it drops. It should be a valuable commodity that people will want to have in their portfolio.

Introduce the team

Describe who are the individuals behind your project and why they are so important.

The rest of the white paper should be technical and it should focus on your idea. But in this section a human touch is essential. Adding photos and bio of the team will be a big advantage for your project.  

Project roadmap

Present a detailed working plan for the next 12-18 months, including the beta launch. A roadmap will give a clear idea to your potential investors and readers about how your project is going to pan out. Be realistic when setting your goals. If the tasks outlined in the road map have already been completed, clearly state them in the white paper as it will be a major advantage for you.

Finances & how the raised funds are going to be used

Dedicate a section of your white paper to explain your project’s finances. Investors have the right to know how you plan to use the money they are investing. Your white paper shouldn’t mention items of expenditure and clearly state that all the money collected will be spent on the development of the project and nothing else.

Common pitfalls to avoid in your whitepaper

- Don’t make grammatical errors. They look extremely unprofessional. Use Grammarly or any other service to find these errors in your white paper.

- Avoid being over-ambitious with your goals. If you are mentioning a goal, describe how you are going to achieve it.

- Don’t be unrealistic with your roadmap

- Check your formatting, Are you using images of different resolutions throughout your whitepaper? Is the font and font size consistent? Do you have an inconsistent layout?

- If you want to present your white paper in several languages, it is better to take help from a professional translator. 

Successful whitepapers

Checkout some well-written and successful white papers:

- Ethereum — $15.5 million raised

- Quoine — $105 million raised

Conclusion

Having a good white paper will help you stand out from the competition but remember, content is not the only factor for a white paper’s success. You should look to properly design your pages and add elements to grab the reader’s attention. 

Saying all that, a white paper is not the only thing you need for a successful ICO launch. We have listed a successful marketing strategy to launch an ICO in 2021.

If you are looking for professional writers for your white paper, contact us and we’ll help you create a compelling white paper for your blockchain project. 

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